In which Mrs Leary goes to Pierrefonds, and Colin says 'G'day!'

Pierrefonds is obviously the holiday destination of choice for Merlin fans these days! I spent two full days there at the end of last week, and was lucky enough to say hello to all the main cast on Thursday. They were filming in the smaller of the two big halls, and were taking breaks in the portico (colonnades, cloisters, whatever you want to call them).

I was even luckier to meet up with some wonderful lj friends on Friday, but I'll let them tell their own stories. ('Hello, ladies!' in my best Bradley voice...)

The castle is absolutely magnificent - just as awesome as it looks on tv. Well worth a visit in its own right. But everyone else has been posting lovely photos of the castle itself, and I have little to add there. So I'll just describe my luck with meeting the cast.

OK, so on Thursday morning...
 

...as I was walking towards the drawbridge to go into the castle, the four younger actors were walking out, the two girls first with someone, all deep in conversation, and then the two boys. I was grinning like an idiot already, of course, and as Colin got close, I said (for some reason, the only words that sprang to mind), 'Morning, all!' Which strikes me as rather English and police-like. A quick beat passed, and then Colin broke into a grin and replied, 'G'day!'

I laughed, and carried on into the castle. This struck me as a bit weird at the time - I remembered Colin's agent claims he has an ear for accents, but I'd only said two words to him!

Anyway, they all started coming back to the courtyard about an hour later. First was Colin. I asked him if I could take a picture, and here it is... What a delightful smile that man has! He's tall but not that tall, btw, as I was standing in the courtyard, and he was a couple of steps higher in the portico. He looked gorgeous - happy and healthy and pink and delicious. Just as gorgeous in real life as you'd want. Gosh! 



Then later I asked Tony for a picture. He wanted his companion in the shot, too, but she's obviously camera-shy. I assume she's one of his daughters, but I didn't like to ask. Just in case! Other than the cape, Uther is looking mighty fine all in black and a very dark blue.

 



A couple of random yet picturesque knights...



The delightful Richard - who also immediately picked me as Australian before I'd even managed a sentence. So I decided the thing with Colin wasn't so weird after all. I babbled on to Richard a bit about how I love his and Colin's work together, how I love Colin, how I think the moments between Gaius and Merlin are some of the best bits of the whole show, they are the magic, etc. He seemed pleased, and said he loved working with Colin. There was a lot of love going around at this point. He was very pleased that the show is doing well in Australia.



And then Angel. She is so very beautiful! And very nice and friendly. We had a bit of a chat, though not about anything much. I said her dresses this season were much nicer; she happily agreed. I said the Wales-France lifestyle for much of the year must be very disruptive; she said she's just happy to be working. And so on.



They must have been filming an intense Arthur scene, cos poor Bradley hardly had a break all afternoon. At this point, Colin has something smeared on his cheeks - I didn't ask, but I did think about Beltane food fights... I am intrigued to see the episode, of course, and find out what's really going on!



And last but not least, the beautiful Katie... She was very sweet indeed. 

 

As you might have gathered, I had a wonderful time!

Then my celebrity stalking continued apace, with the English cricket team on the same Eurostar train as me... It's just as well I think the Aussies are going to win the Ashes without my help, as I could have done them all an injury, and then I'd be typing this from jail...

And then (!) on the train back to Reading - which was going on to Cardiff and places further west (and why haven't I thought about the boys zipping back and forth in trains from London to Cardiff, actually passing within earshot of my home!!! Um, where was I? Oh yes! There were six or eight lovely young ladies in my carriage, and I thought they must be models off on a shoot or something. Then one of them said 'Colin' in conversation - of course my ears spring out just like Merlin's, when I hear that name. I figured it's a relatively common name, of course they don't mean The Colin... But then someone said 'Angel' and 'she' - but we were just about to pull into Reading station, so I didn't get to go accost them and beg for details. And if I'd tried to join their party, I'm sure someone would have noticed the Odd One Out!

And then it was back home to Mr Leary and a good night's sleep on our divine mattress...

 

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